Bringing An Acceptable Offering to God

Bringing an acceptable offering to God
Genesis 4:1-7
A Message by Rev Dr Stanley Lim on 17 May 2009

CAIN & ABEL: The passage that we have just read seems to inform us that God is incredibly unfair. Two brothers, Cain & Abel, bring their offerings. One brings “an offering of the fruit of the ground…” (v.3). The other brings “fat portions of the firstborn of his flock…” (v.4). God accepted Abel and his offerings but not the offerings of his brother, Cain.

Why did God do that? Was He in the mood for steak that day and therefore rejected the salad? Was it to demonstrate His absolute freedom to do whatever he liked, a chance to show that “life is unfair and God is free?” Was it because God demands blood sacrifice, and farmer or shepherd, you have to come before Him with an animal sacrifice?

It does not seem to say so in the text.

The book of Hebrews (11:4) gives us this summary of the transaction: “By faith Abel brought God a better offering than Cain did. By faith he was commended as righteous, when God spoke well of his offerings. And by faith Abel still speaks, even though he is dead”. In what way did Abel demonstrate his faith?

The answer is found in the text. Bible scholar Bruce Waltke summarizes it this way: “In actuality, the key to Cain’s failure is found in the narrator’s careful descriptions of Cain & Abel’s tribute. Cain brings an offering of the fruit of the ground. There is no indication that these are the first or the best. Abel brings the best, fat from the firstborn. Cain’s sin is tokenism. He looks religious, but in his heart he is not totally dependent on God, childlike or grateful” (Bruce Waltke, ‘Genesis’, Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2001, p.97)

In our present day of cholesterol phobia, we may not recognize the significant of “fat” in biblical times. In ancient times, the fat was considered the choicest part of the animal and the firstborn was the most important part of the flock. So the fat of the firstborn is the best of the best. Nike has another caption besides the more popular one, “Just Do It”. “If you want to reach 100%, then you must give 100%.”–Nike.

Cain did his religious duty. But his heart was not in it. Abel’s worship was intentional. He loved the Lord with all his heart, soul and strength (Deut. 6:5). He gave the best of his best. And God says that is the only worship acceptable. How could we even imagine even for a minute that the Almighty would accept token worship? Or be fooled by those going through the motions?

Even on our best day the best of the best would not be good enough for God. But He sees the trajectory of our hearts. He is even willing to accept two fish and five loaves (John 6:9), or even a “fraction of a penny” (Mark 12:41-44) – if the heart is right.

IF WE ARE SERIOUS ABOUT GIVING OUR BEST TO GOD, NEITHER APATHY OR GUILT-DRIVEN ACTIVISM WILL BE ACCEPTABLE.

If indeed it is our heart that God wants then we should ask the Lord to tutor our hearts. We need to be yoked or reyoked with Him (Matt. 11:28-30) and learn from Him what precisely He expects from us. What we cannot do is to go through life careless as to how we relate to Him.

Each morning when we awake from our sleep, we have a choice to make. What will we bring to the altar? We can bring lip service and tokenism. Or we can pour out our lives as a drink offering (2 Tim. 4:6). It appears there is no middle path.

The second stanza of the hymn, Give of Your Best to the Master goes like this,
Give of your best to the Master,
Give Him first place in your heart.
Give Him first place in your service,
Consecrate every part.

End